What is ABO hemolytic disease?
Disease description:
When picking up medication at the hospital, I overheard the doctor mention “ABO hemolytic disease”—a term I’d never heard before—and I’d like to know: What does ABO hemolytic disease mean?
Doctor's answer (2)
Dr. Xing Jian
Hello, hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) due to ABO blood group incompatibility commonly occurs when the mother has type O blood and the father has type A, B, or AB blood. The fetus’s blood type is determined by the combination of one allele inherited from each parent; therefore, the fetal blood type may differ from that of the mother. For example, if a mother with type O blood carries a fetus who inherits type A blood from the father, the mother—lacking A antigens—will produce anti-A antibodies upon exposure to fetal A-type red blood cells crossing into her circulation. These maternal anti-A antibodies can then cross the placenta into the fetal circulation and destroy the baby’s red blood cells. The fundamental cause of HDN is blood group incompatibility between mother and fetus, leading to maternal antibody-mediated destruction of fetal red blood cells. We hope this information is helpful to you. Wishing you a happy and healthy life!
